


Changes

by WhisperOfWarmth



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender, klance - Fandom
Genre: Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Feelings Realization, First Kiss, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Friendship/Love, Gay Keith (Voltron), Hunk (Voltron) is a Good Friend, I Ship It, I Will Go Down With This Ship, Keith (Voltron) is Bad at Feelings, LGBTQ Character, LGBTQ Themes, Love Confessions, M/M, Mutual Pining, Oblivious Keith (Voltron), Pining Lance (Voltron), Romantic Fluff, Sassy Pidge | Katie Holt, Short & Sweet, klance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-12
Updated: 2019-03-12
Packaged: 2019-11-15 07:02:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,261
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18068801
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhisperOfWarmth/pseuds/WhisperOfWarmth
Summary: His entire life, Lance McClain has always been a smooth, confident, charming individual, who has never had a problem walking up and starting a conversation with even the most beautiful of women.But lately, however, his wants and desires have pulled him in a completely unexpected direction, and he has no idea how to gather the confidence needed to explore this new aspect of his personality. Will his friends and fellow Volron teammates be able to help him through this crisis ... or will they only make things more complicated?





	Changes

**Author's Note:**

> For context: this (short) story would be taking place after season 7, before the team leaves Earth again in season 8. Keith’s mother is still in space reuniting the Blades, and Pidge, Hunk and Lance’s families are all living on the large, protected Garrison base. Shiro and Coran are working together upgrading the Atlas and preparing the Earth recruits for their upcoming mission into space. Allura, Keith, Hunk, Pidge, and Lance are all living in their own rooms in the Garrison cadet quarters, and alternate their days between various side projects (like Hunk becoming an assistant chef to the kitchen staff) and training together in their Lions for their upcoming departure.

“Lance? Laaaance? LANCE!”, Pidge shouted at him irritably.

Lance jumped slightly, his eyes focusing back on the small girl. “Huh? You say something?”

Pidge rolled her eyes and stretched, cracking her back. “I’ve asked you to hand me that screwdriver like 10 times, now!”

“Oh,” Lance said sheepishly, quickly picking the tool up off the little work-bench and holding it out to her. “Sorry, I guess I was just thinking.”

Pidge rolled back underneath the machine, flicking her small flashlight back on. “You were _thinking?_ You sick or something?”

Lance just sighed, but didn’t reply. It was an early evening at the Garrison, and Lance, bored, had walked down to Pidge’s room to see if she felt like playing video games with him. But when he had arrived, he found her in the middle of working on a robot she had been rebuilding/reprogramming for several weeks. Not feeling like going back to his own room, he sat down on her bed and absently leafed through her collection of comic books, handing her tools when necessary.

Or rather, when he paid attention.

Now, Pidge rolled back out and stood up, going into her small bathroom to wash the grease from her hands.

“I think I’ve gotten as far as I’m going to get today,” she called out to him above the sound of the water. “Pick a game. You wanna play Diamond Dash? See if you can beat my score this time?”

She came back out and looked at Lance expectantly, but Lance was once again just sitting and staring blankly into space.

“Did you hear me?”, she asked, plopping down beside him.

“Um, yeah. You said we should play Potato Smash, right?”

“What? No! Okay, seriously, ARE you sick?”

“No, why?”

“Because you’re acting like a dumbass, that’s why. More so than usual.”

“Geez, language, Pidge. What would your parents say if they heard you talking like that?”

Pidge laughed and shrugged. “Come on; I’m a whole 16 years old now. I’ve been all around the universe ... doesn’t that give me the right to say a bad word every now and then?”

“You’re not 16, you’re 15.”

“Eh, my birthday is just a month away, so close enough. But okay back to the subject; what’s the matter with you?”

Lance stood up, raising his arms and gesturing as he spoke. “Nothing’s the matter with me! I’m just ... just tired, I guess.”

“Tired? I don’t think so; you slept for like 15 hours yesterday! You even missed practice because of it!”

Lance sat back down, using both fists to prop up his chin. “Then maybe I AM sick,” he said listlessly. “Maybe I’ve caught some rare disease from the last planet we were on, or like, swallowed a space worm, and it’s slowly eating my guts from the inside out.”

“That’s an interesting diagnosis, but I think you’re wrong. Laaaaaaance, I know what’s wrong with you!”

“You do?”, he asked, wary of her sudden cheerful tone. “What?”

“I’ve seen that pathetic, droopy look on your face more times than I can count these past few years. You’re not sick .. you’re in love, aren’t you? You’ve got a crush on someone!”

Lances face turned a bright red, and he picked up Pidge’s pillow and swatted her arm with it. “I do not!”, he denied, indignant.

“Do too.”

“You know, just because you’re a genius doesn’t mean you know everything, _Katie_ ,” he said, scowling and burying his face in her pillow. 

She smacked him with her tiny fist. “Don’t call me that! And yeah, maybe I don’t know everything, but I know this. Just admit it ... you’ve got it bad for some girl, right?”

Lance was quiet for a few moments, and then he said, in a soft voice. “Maybe I DO feel something, for someone. But ... but I already know that it would never work between us. So can we drop it, please? Come on, let’s play games,” he said, picking up the controller. 

But Pidge took it out of his hand, hiding it behind her back.

“No way! This is too good! Tell me who it is! Is it someone I know? Is she pretty? Is she a student here, or one of the grunts, or —“

“No, no, no,” Lance said, shaking his head. “It’s — I — just trust me, Pidge, it wouldn’t work. I’m positive it wouldn’t.”

Pidge blinked, and then picked up her laptop from the shelf.

“You know, I just don’t get you, Lance,” she said, taking off her glasses and polishing them on the hem of her shirt. “In Voltron, we faced all kinds of scary and powerful monsters. We’ve almost died like, a bunch of times. But no matter what it was, you were always brave about it. So I don’t get why such a simple thing is freaking you out now.”

“Pidge, you don’t —“

“Look, whoever this girl is, I can try and help you, okay? Tell me who she is and I can kind of scope her out for you, like ... like doing reconnaissance. We’ll figure it out, don’t —“

“IT’S NOT A GIRL!”, Lance fairly shouted, unable to hold it in anymore. “It’s ... it’s not a _girl_!”

Pidge put down her laptop, looking Lance right in the face. 

“Lance ... I don’t know if you’re aware of this, but you’re 18 now. That means legally you’re an adult. So it’s okay, if this lady is a little older than you. It could still work.”

“Wait, what?”

“That’s what you mean, right? That it’s a woman, not a girl? Like I said, don’t worry, we’ll figure it out. You’ve matured a lot since our early Garrison days, you can handle a mature relationship.”

Lance shifted, putting his head in his hands. “You’re still not understanding,” he mumbled, feeling distraught. “Pidge ... if I tell you something, something really really personal, will you promise to still be my friend?”

Pidge tilted her head, staring at him.

“You’re scaring me a little,” she said, in a slightly shaky voice. She timidly reached out and pulled his hands from his face, holding them gently in her own. “No matter what you tell me, nothings gonna change, alright? We’re still family. So tell me, what’s wrong?”

Lance was quiet for so long that Pidge thought he wouldn’t answer the question. She was about to repeat it, when suddenly, his grip on her hands tightened, and he blurted out,

“I ... I like Keith.”

Pidge’s eyes widened, and it took her a few long moments to remember how to open her mouth and form sentences.

“Keith ... as in _our_ Keith? Keith Kogane?”

Lance nodded, feeling his own face flush several times darker than normal in a blush.

“But ... er, not to be in your business like this, but ... I wasn’t aware that you were into boys?”

“I’m not. I mean, I am. I mean, ugh, I don’t know, Pidge! I do like girls but ... but I REALLY like Keith.”

“Is this something new?”

“Not really. I’ve been thinking about it, and I realized that I’ve had like, a huge crush on him, for a long, long time. And I think I didn’t want to admit it to myself because feeling like this confused me, and kinda scared me. But Pidge ... you know the other day, when we were all sitting in the mess hall, and Acxa came to sit with us?”

Pidge nodded.

“Well, that bugged me so much that I wanted to scream. The way she was laughing with him, touching his arm — it made me feel like a hot knife was stabbing me in the stomach. And at first I thought it was because I was angry, that Keith, who sits there and does nothing, always attracts the cute girls to him, when someone like me who tries super hard like, never gets dates. But when I went to bed that night I really started thinking about it, and I realized it was because **I** wanted to be the one touching Keith’s arm, and making him laugh at _my_ jokes.”

Pidge got up and went to a little cabinet across the room, pulling out a box of half-eaten chocolates.

“I stole this from Matt’s room,” she commented, holding out a heart-shaped chocolate to him. “Here. Eat one, raise your blood sugar a little. You look like you’re going to pass out or something.”

Lance did as she said, slowly chewing. While he was still revved up, he felt an indescribable sense of relief flooding his chest. He had kept these feelings about Keith inside of himself for much longer than he’d led Pidge to believe, and had been walking around in a state of turmoil, wondering whether he had gone crazy. It was wonderful, to finally say some of them out-loud.

“Lance ... maybe you would feel better, if you told these things to Keith himself.”

Lance grabbed another candy from the box and stuffed it into his mouth. “Are you kidding me? Keith would just laugh his head off at me.”

“How do you know that?”

“I don’t _know_ that, but that’s what I feel like would happen.”

“Laughing at someone expressing their feelings is a mean thing to do. But Keith isn’t mean.”

“No, you’re right. He’s not. He’s, well, he’s _perfect_. He’s smart, he’s a good fighter, he has good taste in music and books and stuff ... and, like, he’s cute. More than cute. And it feels weird saying that, or even thinking it, because I’ve never thought that way about a boy before. But like, the way he smiles, the way he laughs, the way he tucks his hair behind his ear ...”

“Geez,” Pidge said, somewhat solemnly. “You’ve got it bad-bad, huh? Worse than I thought.”

“Exactly. So there’s no way I could just waltz up to Keith, KEITH, who I’ve spent like the last 3 years competing against, and tell him any of this. I’d probably start stuttering or something and sound even more stupid than I already am.”

Pidge sighed, scooted over, and put both arms around Lance, embracing him. Her arms were thin but they gave off a comforting warmth, for which Lance was grateful.

“You’re not stupid. But, okay. How about for now, we stop talking about it, and focus on something else. Try to put your mind on other things. It helps, sometimes, when you have a problem you think you can’t solve, to focus for awhile on something different.”

Lance squeezed Pidge tightly, and kissed her cheek before letting her go. “You’re right,” he said, smiling. “Maybe let’s play that game now?”

Pidge made a face and pretended to wipe off her cheek. “Ew, don’t be gross, Lance. And be warned; just because of this, I’m not taking it easy on you. I’m about to kick your ass,” she said, smirking as she handed him the controller.

“You either let me win at least once, or I go running to Commander Holt and telling him about his daughter’s new vocabulary.”

“What? That’s not fair!”

“Life isn’t fair, lil sis. Now come on,” he said, flipping on the game console. “Let’s go.”

—-

“Yeah so anyway, I decided to substitute sugar in for salt and man, it made a huge difference. Now it’s sweet but not TOO sweet, right? Plus the reduced sodium means it’s safer to eat slightly larger portions.”

Keith nodded, mechanically taking another bite of his food. Ever since Hunk has become an official assistant chef for the Garrison, Keith had to admit that the food had taken a huge turn for the better. Today, however, he was having difficulty focusing on the conversation, good food or not.

He was sitting alone with Hunk at one of the back Mess tables, in the corner, eating lunch. About an hour after this, he would gather the group together for their weekly Lion drill formation training and exercises. Hunk was sitting behind him, by the wall, and Keith was in front of him, his back to the other tables in here.

Keith was trying to listen to Hunk attentively, but lately, for some reason, he found it difficult to concentrate on anything. He liked Hunk, but the guy’s over-enthusiastic talking could be wearisome at times, especially to someone like Keith who preferred to be alone for the most part. 

He wished that one of the others would come and join them, to take the pressure off of Keith having to be Hunk’s main source of conversation, but likely that wouldn’t be possible this afternoon. Allura, Coran, Romelle and Shiro had all eaten earlier, and were in the process of conducting their various tasks along the Garrison. Pidge was off somewhere with her brother Matt, and Lance ...

Something seemed to be wrong with Lance, as of late. He was much quieter than normal, much more subdued and serious. At first Keith took this as Lance maybe being worried; earlier this month, his sister Veronica, along with her team, had been sent on a mission to deploy aid and supplies to another colony that was quite far away. Keith believed that maybe Lance was so quiet because he was preoccupied with thoughts of his sisters safety ... 

... but Veronica and her team had just returned a few days ago, safe and sound, and Lance STILL carried that unsettling mood around with him.

And, whether this was Keith’s imagination or not, it felt like a lot of Lance’s oddness was being directed solely at HIM. During team exercises, he never wanted to partner up with Keith. A lot of the time, when Keith was speaking to him, Lance would stand with a very closed-off, somewhat defensive posture ... and Keith couldn’t remember the last time Lance would look him in the eye, when speaking to him. But it wasn’t a hostile energy, like how it was between them when they first met. It was more like, a cautious one, or a _scared_ one.

But what was Lance suddenly afraid of?

Keith sighed and took another bite of his food. All of this was surely just his imagination, right? After all, he couldn’t think of a single thing he could have said or done to —

“I think he’s in love,” Hunk said, interrupting Keith’s inner thoughts. Keith looked up at him in confusion.

“Huh? Who?”

“Lance,” Hunk said, taking a sip of his soda. “Haven’t you noticed how weird he’s been lately?”

“Er, no, not really,” Keith lied, quickly taking a sip of his water.

“Well, I have. But then I was like, wait, I know what this is. Because he used to act that way whenever he had some crush on a girl at the Garrison, back when me, him and Pidge were students here. All that being quiet, and sighing all the time, and that sad puppy look on his face ... he’s definitely in love.”

For some reason, Hunk’s words caused a deep, burning sensation down in Keith’s chest. He drank more water in an attempt to make it go away ... but it stayed right where it was.

“Maybe. Well, hopefully he talks to her soon and gets it out of his system.”

“You wanna help me try and guess who it is?”

“How are we gonna do that?”

“Well, he’s sitting about three tables behind us right now, with Veronica. He’s staring in this direction with that sad face, so I’m thinking it’s one of the girls at the tables in-between us. Maybe if we —“

Keith stood up abruptly, picking up his tray.

“I think we should just stay out of it, and mind our own business,” Keith said quietly, a bit harsher than he’d intended. “I’m going to go check in with Shiro; I’ll see you all for drills later.”

As Hunk watched him walk away, he wondered what had triggered such a defensive outburst. As he sat staring out in front of him, he suddenly noticed that Lance’s expression had changed, and he had picked up his head, as Keith walked out on the other side of the room. Lance’s gaze followed Keith all the way out the door, with all the worshipful admiration of a blind man seeing the sunrise for the first time. When he was gone, Lance went back to propping his fist up on his cheek, letting out another sigh.

Hunk picked back up his fork, to finish his meal.

“Well, _that’s_ really unexpected,” he muttered to himself quietly, a small smile on his face. “Lance ... and Keith? Crazy ... but kinda cute, too. I can’t wait to talk to Pidge about this.”

—-

“ ... and I assumed it was going to be a sweet little story, but no! At the end, the girl’s grandmother gets eaten by the wolf, and the girl ends up killing it. What sort of ending is that??”

Lance shrugged his shoulders, pulling his jacket tighter as they walked along. It was early morning, and, restless, Lance had decided to get up and take a walk around the base. He plodded through the grass and under the stone arches, his head in the clouds, when he turned the corner and nearly ran face-first into Allura, who was also out for a walk.

She was in the middle of telling him about the newest story she had read, in a big book of Fairy Tales she had found tucked away in the Garrison library. 

“You do know those stories are meant for kids, right?,” he asked, as they passed underneath the grove of willow trees.

“So I’ve been told. But for the most part, I simply adore them. They remind me so much of Altean folktales that my mother and father would tell me, when I was a child. Like, the one about the mermaid. That one’s my favorite.”

Lance chuckled a bit at that. “You know, not to brag, but I DID meet a REAL mermaid, that time with Hunk, so yeah.”

Allura rolled her eyes, also chuckling. “Yes, yes, I know. And I must say, the ‘real’ thing was so much prettier than in the book.”

Lance nodded in agreement, and the two continued along silently. After awhile, Lance cleared his throat and asked, “So how are you liking Earth so far? Well, what little corner you’ve seen of Earth, anyway.”

They stopped to sit on a little bench that overlooked a small pond. Allura gently pushed a strand of her long silver hair back behind her ear, before answering,

“I love it here. I’ve met some lovely people, and have been treated so kindly. I have to say, it’s the first time in a long time, that I’ve felt like I was, well, _home_.” 

Here she paused, sighing a little, before continuing, “It’ll be hard for me to leave here, once we have to go back into space.”

Lance reached over and patted her shoulder. “I know. I feel that way, too. I’ve been missing home for so long, and my family, and the thought of having to go away again is just ...”

He stopped, shaking his head. “But the peace of the universe has to come before all of that, doesn’t it? Voltron means so much, to so many different beings. We can’t stop our mission now, not when there still civilizations to be freed from Galra control. But we’ve got so many allies on our side ... we’re going to succeed. I don’t doubt that. And then we can come back home, and grow old and boring and all that stuff. A reward, but one we’ll have to wait for.”

Allura surprised him by leaning over and hugging him fiercely.

“Lance ... to hear you say that ... you give me so much hope. It’s amazing, when I try and compare THIS Lance to the Lance I first met in the castle. You and the others have grown so much. I’m just ... I’m so proud of all of you.”

Lance hugged her back, smiling. Talking with Allura always made him feel good inside, which was something that he desperately needed these days. It was funny, how their personal relationship had evolved. When they’d first met, he’d seen her almost solely as a beautiful girl, an unattainable object of desire, and not much else. But the course of the past few years had altered his perception, to one of friendship, and, ultimately, seeing her as being a sort of second mother in his life.

He let go of her and stood up, offering her his hand. “Come on, let’s go see what Hunk’s cooked up for breakfast.”

“Oooh, I hope it’s, um, what’s the word, spanetti?”

Lance grinned. “Do you mean ‘spaghetti’?”

“Yes! That’s it! Oh, I absolutely love that!”

“Well, actually, spaghetti is typically a dinner food, not breakfast ... but you know what? I’m sure if we ask Hunk REALLY nicely, he’d make us some spaghetti now anyways.”

Allura smiled, then took off running in the direction of the mess hall.

“Let’s go!”, she yelled excitedly behind her, leaving Lance laughing and hurrying after her.

***

Keith ducked the blade and spun around on his right, bringing his own sword against his opponents ankles. The move served to knock it into its back, when Keith took the opportunity to leap on to its chest and drive his sword straight down into its heart.

The image exploded, and Keith sat on the floor for a few seconds, catching his breath. He felt slightly annoyed; while he was grateful that Coran had finally figured out how to replicate a combat simulator like the one that had been in the Castle of Lions, he was frustrated with himself, and how out of practice he was with this.

He found himself out of breath more quickly than before, and his stamina wasn’t the best either.

He knew that part of this was that his body (like the rest of the team’s bodies) were still recovering from that final fight with the Altean war-robot, but still. He didn’t like it when he wasn’t at true top of his game in anything. So he spent several hours each day, pushing himself to his limits, trying to regain some of the mobility and reflexes that he’d once had.

As he sat there catching his breath, he heard the door slide open, and looked behind him, slightly irritated at being interrupted. His irritation fell away, however, when he got a look at who it was.

“Oh, hey, Lance,” he said casually, standing and using the edge of his shirt to wipe the sweat from his face. “Were you coming to practice combat too?”

“Yeah, um, but sorry, it can wait ‘til you’re done,” he said, backing up towards the door.

“No, hey, wait; why don’t we practice some of the two person sets? Pidge and Hunk never want to do them with me, and Allura’s level is so advanced that I can’t keep up with her.”

As he was taking, he couldn’t help but notice how increasingly red Lance’s face was getting. Was he sick or something?

“Ah, sure, but ... I always use my blaster, not a sword, like you use. Will that make a difference?”

Keith shook his head and stepped nearer to him. “No; it’s good practice for how something would likely go down if we were fighting in the real world. 

Keith went to the console and punched in the sequence for two-person drills, and Lance nervously took out his bayard, watching as it changed into a blaster in his hand.

“Okay,” Keith said, as multiple projections appeared in front of them, “You watch my back and I’ll watch yours, right?”

“R-right,” Lance stammered, praying feverishly that Keith wouldn’t notice how much he was already sweating, at Keith’s nearness.

Once the battle began to take place, Lance was able to shelve his awkwardness, and fight back to the best of his abilities. He ducked around in-tandem with Keith, firing his weapon against both ground and aerial opponents.

When it was over, the two sat side by side on the floor, panting.

“Is it just me, or is it harder to do that now than when we first got to the castle?”, Lance asked, when he could speak semi-properly again.

“It’s not just you. I was thinking that before you came in.”

Keith reached into his pocket and brought out a rubber-band, using it to pull his hair back into a ponytail.

“Of course, with ME, I think part of the problem is my hair. It’s gotten so long and it’s always in my eyes. I should probably get it cut soon.”

“NO!”, Lance shrieked, startling Keith. “I mean, no, it’s ... it’s perfect, the way it is.”

“What?”, Keith asked, tilting his head and staring at him. “What the heck are you talking about? Aren’t you the one who always said my long hair was stupid?”

“Yeah, well, I was wrong, okay? It’s not stupid at all. It’s — it’s —“

Lance stood up quickly, nearly tripping in his haste.

“I ... um ... I’ve gotta go,” he said, backing away toward the door. “I’ll see you later, man.”

Keith continued to sit on the floor long after Lance left, staring at the door and wondering what in the world had just happened ...

... and wondering why he suddenly felt so _cold_ , in Lance’s absence.

—-

“Hey.”

Lance looked up, surprised to see Keith on the ground below him. It was several days later, after dinner, and Lance had taken Red out to the southern border of the Garrison, sitting on the lion’s wide shoulder and staring at the rapidly darkening sky.

“Oh, hey,” he answered back, watching as Keith swiftly climbed up Red’s side to join him. When Keith reached him, he sat down gingerly next to him, shivering a bit in the cool air.

“I’ve been sending you texts for the past hour. Did you lose your phone or what?”

Lance shook his head. At the same time, he took off his hoodie and held it out to obviously-cold Keith, who wordlessly took it and pulled it over his head.

“No, I just left it back in my room. Didn’t think I’d need it. Why were you messaging me, though? What’s wrong?”

“That’s what I came to ask YOU.”

Lance turned his head, regarding Keith warily. “What do you mean?”

Keith shrugged, turning his own face in the direction of the sunset. The fading light illuminated his pale skin, making it glow pink in the twilight.

“I don’t know. You’ve been acting kinda funny these last few days. Well, no, for the past few _weeks_ , actually.”

“How am I acting funny?”

“You’re acting funny by NOT acting funny, if that makes sense. You haven’t been laughing, you don’t smile much, and it’s been forever since I’ve heard one of your jokes.”

Lance chuckled a bit at that. “That should make you and everyone else happy, shouldn’t it? My jokes are stupid, after all.”

“No they’re not. But don’t change the subject, here; what’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

“It’s not nothing. Something is clearly bothering you. Why can’t you just tell me what it is?”

Lance sighed and drew his knees up to his chin, wrapping his arms around his legs. “Why do you care?”, he mumbled, listlessly.

“Why do I CARE? What are you taking about? Why wouldn’t I? You’re a member of a team that I’m a leader of. If something is wrong with one of my team members, it’s my duty to fix it.”

“That’s very responsible of you, Keith,” Lance said, somewhat sarcastically. “I knew the Black lion made the right choice choosing you when Shiro disappeared. Well, don’t worry about me, Team Leader. I’m fine; just a little tired lately, I guess.”

Keith was quiet for a while, taking that in. The last of the sun sank behind the trees, bathing the two of them in the smoky-blue light.

“It’s not just that, you know,” he finally said, startling Lance. “I mean, _that’s_ not the only reason I’m asking. It’s — I — me and you are friends, too, aren’t we? If you don’t want to talk to me in a Voltron-related capacity, can’t you at least talk to me like a friend?”

Lance turned and looked at him. The pale skin. The fit, slender body. His deep brown eyes, anxiously focused on Lance’s own. The way the breeze blew his long hair back from his neck. He saw all these things, and again got that sharp, hot longing in the very pit of his stomach.

“Keith,” he began, slowly, his heart thudding in his ears, “Have you ever been in a situation where there was something you needed to tell someone, but you had no idea where to begin?”

“Something bad?”

“No! Well, maybe. I mean, maybe it’s something that you don’t think is bad, but the other person might.”

“Hm. Well, let me reverse this, here. Say I came up to you and told you the same thing. What would you tell ME to do?”

Lance shrugged. “I guess ... I would say, tell the other person whatever it is you need to tell them. And even if it goes badly, at least whatever it was will finally be off your chest.”

Silence fell between them once more, and then Keith cleared his throat, and said,

“Lance.”

“Yeah?”

“I ... um ... I like you, too.”

Lance nearly fell off of Red, he was so surprised.

“Excuse me?”

Even in the dark, Lance could see how red Keith’s face was, as he continued,

“I was talking to Pidge a few days ago. She ... she told me some stuff. She wouldn’t tell me everything, but enough so that I got the point. Or at least I THINK I got the point. If ... if I’m wrong, here, I’m gonna feel really stupid, but ... I think, you like me. And if that’s the case, I just need you to know that I like you, too. I have for a long time.”

Lance was still stunned and in shock, and Keith bowed his head, taking his silence as rejection.

“Shit ... I knew I was wrong! I’m sorry; can we just pretend like this didn’t happ—“

Before Keith could finish his sentence, Lance had leapt at him and thrown his arms around him, hugging him tightly.

“You’re not wrong, you idiot! Oh my gosh, I can’t believe this! I feel like I’m in a dream right now! I can’t believe that —“

Keith pulled out of Lance’s arms, took hold of his face, and guided him forward into a kiss. The feeling of Keith’s lips were so warm and soft and _sweet_ that Lance felt a mild panic, wondering how in the world he was going to resist kissing Keith all the time, now.

Much too soon, the kiss ended, and Keith murmured, playfully, “You talk a lot, you know that? You’re gonna have to work on being less annoying if we’re gonna be together.”

“Hard to talk when your mouth is occupied doing something else,” Lance hinted, and was rewarded with another kiss. It was only their second kiss, but already it felt so natural, as if they had been doing this forever.

After, Keith stood up and held out his hand to Lance, pulling him up beside him. 

“Come on,” he said, heading to Red’s access chamber door, “Fly us back to the Garrison. When we’re there, we can sneak into the Mess and grab some of that cake that Hunk made, and go back to my room and watch movies.”

“Like a date?”

“Yes, like a date. Hopefully the first of many.”

So the two climbed into the Lion, each eager to get back home and begin this new chapter of their lives.


End file.
